Week 1: Hearty Salisbury Steak

This project is all about trying new things and learning, so before I get down to the recipe here's a snippet of what I learned this week:

• Salisbury steak doesn't photograph well. There's a reason why the picture was really really small in the magazine.
• My husband will always suggest ways to make a "light" recipe better. Those suggestions will always make the recipe much less "light."
  
• I hate chopping onions. Particularly when the recipe calls for finally chopped onions and actually means minced onions.
  

So now that I've prepared everyone for the horrible salisbury steak photo, here it is in all its glory:

While it resembles something you'd get in a school cafeteria on mystery meat day, this recipe was actually both "Light" and "Tasty" as the magazine implies. Salisbury steak happens to be one of my husband's comfort food favorites and this recipe provides a nice, healthier alternative to the Banquet patties!

My very favorite mashed potatoes are based on a Tyler Florence recipe and fondly referred to as "heart attack potatoes" because the taters are boiled in milk and cream instead of water. I'm pretty sure it would be a sin to put them on the same plate as a recipe from Healthy Cooking Magazine, so I opted for your basic mashed. We should have had another veggie as well but I forgot to put it on my grocery list.

Hearty Salisbury Steaks
Taste of Home Healthy Cooking Magazine
August/September 2009

• 1/4 cup egg substitute
• 1 medium onion finely chopped (I used 1/4 of a large onion and still felt I had too much onion in this recipe)
• 1/2 cup crushed saltine crackers (about 1/2 a sleeve)
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 lb lean ground beef
  
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 envelope reduced sodium onion soup mix
• 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
• 2 cups water.

1. In a large bowl combine egg, onion, saltines, and pepper. Add beef and mix well.
2. Shape into patties. (Recipe says it should make 5. I wound up with 8)
3. Cook patties in oil over medium heat, 3 minutes on each side until lightly browned. Remove patties from pan and drain drippings.
4. In small bowl combine soup mix, flour, and water. Heat until boiling in skillet.
5. Return patties to skillet, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5-7 minutes or until meat is no longer pink inside.

According to the nutritional information 1 patty with 1/4 cup of the gravy is 233 calories and 10 grams of fat....much better for you than the salisbury steak out of the box.

Next time I will use less onion and make my patties a little thinner. The good news is there will definitely BE a next time. Week one recipe is a definite REPEAT!